Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome everybody. You're listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. And it is a lovely Sunday afternoon at 2 o' clock and I hate to say it, but I am co host west today.
Sheena is not with me, but she will be back with me next week. So, guys, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to listen to me all on your.
I don't know if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing or if maybe I'm just going to take over the airwaves because we know that you guys have to listen to us every Sunday to get your week started. But I do have a guest today which we'll bring on in our next segment. But you know, I just, I kind of want to know how everybody's doing. We do have our email account if you want to shoot us some emails and, you know, kind of check in with us. But we've had our first full week at UA and I feel like it's been kind of a ride. I feel like we're getting used to going to classes whether it's virtually or in person. I know I teach a couple of in person classes and it's been very different looking at my students with face masks on. But at the same time, I applaud you guys for doing what you're supposed to be doing. It makes me feel better when you're on campus wearing face masks and, you know, being respectful of each other and kind of keeping your distance. It definitely makes me as an instructor feel a lot better and as a staff member at the university. So I do applaud you for that. So keep doing that. Keep your distance as much as possible, wear your face mask and, you know, hopefully we can just continue out with a good semester. Fingers crossed. But if you are listening for the first time on Fit to Be Tied, this is kind of our wellness show. We talk about fitness, we talk about nutrition, but to be honest with you, we kind of focus on all the dimensions of wellness. And if you have listened to our show before, you'll know that we have plenty of different guests that come on. We love to use our resources within the division of student life. We love to check in with the counseling center, which is what we're going to do today. We love to talk to all of our partners at the student health within student health and well being. And to be honest with you, we love feedback. And so if you guys listen to us and there's a topic you want to talk about if there's something that is exciting.
I know we talk about COVID all the time, which, let's be real, I mean, I think we're just going to be talking about COVID for a long time, but if we can start to kind of work that into other topics of conversation, we are ready to do that. So we're going to have some conversations coming up in the coming weeks.
This is recovery month, so we will have our friends over at the CRC coming on. But we are also kicking off suicide prevention week and not trying to be a downer, but at the same time, I think this is very important that something that we talk about, we have a healthy conversation about. So that's something we're going to talk about this week, actually today. So keep that in mind. But also thinking about your health and well being, if that is something that you have struggle with or you have friends and family, hopefully we can give you the right resources moving forward and just maybe you can be a resource for somebody. We have great resources on campus for these types of topics and things. And of course, me and Sheena are always looking to give you guys a little bit more information. So I know I'm going to miss my co host today, but I'm really excited that I have a guest full of knowledge and information.
So I think on that note, I'm not going to bore you guys too much. I think we'll take a quick break. So as Sheena always says, grab something to drink, wash your hands, change out your face mask, whatever you need to do on this lovely Sunday afternoon. And we will take a quick break. You're listening to Fit to be. Fit to be Tied. Guys, I can't even get it together without Sheena. Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 capstone. We'll be right back.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: The capstone 90.7 fm wvua.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody. You're listening to Fit to be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. And oh my goodness, I am co hosting by myself. And if you heard me get tongue tied, it's because Sheena is my rock. She is the one that I look to. Whether we're on Zoom recording, which by the way, that's what we're doing, or if we're in the studio, I look at her when I draw a blank and she usually brings me back. So stay with me. This show, I'm excited because maybe this is just like Goodney, you can do this. You got this. And I believe in myself just like I believe in all of you guys, but we are going to go ahead and shift gears. I am excited to bring on a guest.
Dr. Greg Vanderwaal is a licensed psychologist and the executive director at the Counseling center, and he is our guest today. And, Greg, welcome to the show. Welcome to Fit to Be Tied.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Thank you, Whitney. I'm really happy to be here. Excited to get to talk with you today and share some information with our students.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: I'm excited too. And, you know, we're looking at each other through zoom because this is definitely our new normal. We have our timer on the screen. We're ready to roll. This is how we're gonna do it. So if you guys kind of painting a visual picture, I know last week when Sheena and I were on the radio, we kind of told you guys this is our new theme. And so it is a different feel, but we're ready to roll with it. So, Dr. Vanderwald, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, including your academic background, your role at the counseling center, because we just kind of want to know a little bit about you.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
So I am a licensed clinical psychologist by training. I received my graduate degrees from the University of Alabama. So I was a grad student here for 6ish years, getting my master's and PhD in clinical psychology.
Graduated with that in 2012. And after a short stint as a postdoc here in the psychology department, I got my first job as a staff psychologist at the counseling center. And I've been at the counseling center here since the summer of 2013.
I've had a few different roles in that time. First was a staff psychologist, then I was the assistant director here. And for about the past year and a half or so, I've been the executive director. So I have loved the work I've been able to do here. Here. I've developed such a passion for collegiate mental health, and I'm really excited about being able to support our students and serve our students through the resources we have at the counseling center.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate you telling us a little bit about your background, and you sound kind of like me. I've been here, I guess I started as professional staff at the university in 2012. I worked some side jobs, and so I guess we've been around here about the same time and kind of have made our way up. So that's, you know, I appreciate you telling us those things. And, you know, I kind of want to talk about the counseling center because I don't know if a lot of our students or even a lot of our Faculty staff really know about the resources that are available. And so just to kick it off, how many staff members do you guys have?
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Yeah, great question. So when we have all of our positions filled right now, we do have 20 clinical positions, one of which is a case manager who does full time case management for our students here. And then a few of those positions have administrative pieces to them. We have an associate director, we have a coordinator of our clinical services, a coordinator of our outreach services.
But then the rest of our staff are licensed staff psychologists or staff therapists. And we have a good eclectic mix of backgrounds at our center. We employ psychologists, licensed social workers, and licensed professional counselors.
So the rest of our staff have kind of a nice mix of those things.
We've been growing pretty steadily over the past decade or so. When I first started here, we maybe had 13 licensed staff. So we're slowly getting bigger, trying to catch up with the student population that's bloomed over the past couple decades.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: You know, I don't know how y' all do it because I feel like as quickly as we've grown and I think we're maintaining our numbers right now, but you know, as quickly as we've. As we've grown with the university and students and you know, I think about us at the rec center and things that we've done over the years, we have another facility over on the north side of campus and just more classes and more opportunities. And I can't help but think y' all staff is gonna continue to grow.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: That's my hope. I think we really do need to continue to grow in order to meet the demand that the student body has for us. I'd like for us to be at a size where we can not only do the clinical work we do well, but also all the other things that are so important to collegiate mental health, like the outreach education and consultation opportunities we have have for people here. And we also have a number of doctoral and master's level trainees with us each year. We take trainees from those three departments on campus and love having them and want to see that that program grow as well.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Now, where are you guys located on campus?
[00:09:53] Speaker B: So physically we are in the what's called the South Lawn Office Building. It's right next door to the east side Edge Apartments across the street from the law school, kind of right by the University Police department station there.
We share a big building with the Collegiate Recovery Community and Intervention Services and the Women and Gender Resource Center.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Okay, well, and I don't think I've actually Walked into your guys's space, which haven't really been anywhere. Mostly on campus now, but normally not at all. I mean, it's just weird. Weird, right? It's kind of like I still go in occasionally to do some things, but this whole working remotely is just really kind of a game changer now.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: But I would go in there a lot because I would teach yoga for the crc. And so I remember if I park in that parking lot and I walk straight in, the CRC is on your left and then are y' all on the right?
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Correct? Yeah, we're right across that. That atrium area from the Queen Recovery.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Okay. And I think that's good for students to know because I know when I was a student, there's that shyness about me. I still have that when I have to go somewhere new, a new place, and it's kind of like, well, I don't really know where to go. I don't know where to park. And so now that if people are listening, maybe have a better idea of where that area is and some of our other campus partners that are on the south lawn, it's good to have a little bit of an idea. But are y' all taking walk ins or are y' all like, how does that work?
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So we have adjusted our services for the fall and are doing almost everything solely through telemental health vehicles. So a lot of it is through zoom. Whether it's our individual counseling, we're doing one on one zoom sessions, or our group counseling, which we're also doing as zoom sessions as well.
We are able to meet with students same day if they're needing a consultation over the phone. We also still offer our urgent consultation and crisis services to students. Most of that will start off through telemental health and we can transition to in person if that's needed and necessary. We have things set up in our building to where we have a couple rooms available for students to zoom with a therapist, even if they're in our space, just to kind of keep that safe distancing in place. But we can and have worked with some students who need to be seen in person if that's absolutely necessary.
But the nice part about the services we offer is we can do them safely distanced, even if that's not ideal. It's not what we want to do. We want to get back to being able to see our students in person. But for the time being, it has been working pretty well.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: You know, I think that's great. There's kind of this silver Lining I think with doing virtual things and talking to people through Zoom and Microsoft Teams, all that kind of stuff. I know that you're very similar to Sheena, that when she meets with her patients, she's doing it through Zoom. I haven't really, because in my job I don't meet one on one with clients anymore. I do when I'm working with them in the Reformer studio, which is have to be there in person. But it almost allows more opportunity to see people. But at the same time, there's this kind of negative, I guess to it where you're constantly on the screen and that can be a little tough. I found myself kind of like zoning out of things, like having to be very focused. Whereas when I'm in person, it's easier for me to talk to somebody and be engaged. When I'm looking at a screen, it's a little harder.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: You're absolutely right. And we struggle with that, I think, and our students can struggle with that at time. But it does take a concerted effort to really be engaged with that computer screen in front of you, which is really important when it comes to the relationship in the counseling setting. And so we're working hard at it. But we would love to be able to have that one on one in person engagement again and really excited for, for whenever that time will be.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: I know. Fingers crossed. Well, I think on that note, we'll take a quick little break. So thank you guys for listening to Fit to Be Tie. We are going to catch you on the other side of the break. You're listening to Fit and Tie with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: The capstone 90.7 fm wvua.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: All right, guys, you're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. And we are so glad that you're listening to us.
We love our listeners and we love to give you tips and info about the resources on campus. And if you're just now joining us or tuning in, we have Dr. Greg Vanderwaal with us from the Council Counseling center. And he's just basically giving us all the good information and resources that we have on campus. And Sheena and I always like to focus on our campus partners because we're all a team. We're all in the same department or the same division. And so we like to make sure that, you know, we're telling you guys what we have on campus because we're pretty partial and biased to that because we think we're pretty awesome. So we're just going to continue our conversation about the council center. We're talking about where the counseling center is located. And you know, I basically was saying it's kind of tough having these zoom sessions. I feel like I'm getting a little bit more comfortable. But at the same time, I know if she knew we're here, she would talk about her one on one sessions for her patients. And then I know, Dr. Manawal, you guys are trying to stay with your clients and you're trying to have those one on one sessions and group sessions. I'm curious, how are these group sessions working out? Are they going okay in a zoom session?
[00:15:46] Speaker B: They are. And typically those services kind of gear up as the semester gets going. So we're just kind of in the infancy of getting those up and running. So a lot of that is yet to be seen. However, over the summer we did have some workshops that we did that were small groups and they seem to go really well, especially if we limit them to four or five people where you can still see everybody on the screen. Everybody's not talking over each other. Once you get to like 10 people, it's really hard to figure out who's talking next in the zoom session. But we're going to try to keep them small and engaged so you can still get that social support, that peer support that comes with group counseling, as well as the feedback from your counselor. And so we're really excited about them. We've got a list on our website of all the group counsel we're going to be offering for the fall that is growing. We're still kind of getting those set in place. But definitely check out that resource. If anything sounds, and if anything sounds like it would be a good fit for you, just give us a call.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: I was just going to ask you. So if I'm a student and you know, I listen to this radio show or I find out about you guys and I'm thinking, you know, I would like to reach out to you.
What would be the first step?
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Yeah, the first step to really most of our services is to give us a call. So our phone number is 205-348-3863.
And that's the best way to get in touch with us. If you have an old ACT card that's actual physical in your hand. ACT card, our number's on the back of that.
But the other best way to kind of get a good overview of our services and what we offer and all our contact information is at our website and that's just counseling U.A.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: edu and I think for students. You know, I've worked with students for a while and, you know, sometimes they need a little extra encouragement if they do open up to you as a staff member or a faculty member. And you can clearly see that maybe this is a direction you would like to show them.
What can a staff member do? I've always wondered kind of what our role is in that situation and how much do we put ourselves out there to encourage them or like, what do we do on our side?
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's an excellent question. And it really speaks to the entire campus's responsibility toward our whole health and well being. We all have a part to play. And I think faculty and staff who aren't clinicians, who aren't expected to be clinicians, still have a role to play play.
And really what I encourage staff members to do is to one, be ready to listen.
Just be willing to listen and be willing to ask some questions. It's okay to ask questions, it's okay to ask people how they're doing.
And then lastly, know how and when to refer somebody. If you're talking to somebody and you're like, yeah, I think maybe this is more than I can handle as a staff member or this is something that they might need, some professional involvement. Just knowing the resources that are here and how to refer somebody there, that's the best thing that any staff or faculty member could do to help kind of support our global health and, well, being here on campus.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: Yeah, and that kind of, you know, leads me into what our conversation really is truly about is we are starting National Security Suicide Prevention Week. So it starts today, I believe it's the sixth Sunday afternoon. And it goes throughout the whole week. And you know, when we hear the word suicide just being completely out there, we kind of tense up. At least I know I do because it's a very uncomfortable thing to talk about. And I'm curious, you know, going into this topic in this week and bringing awareness, what are some of the best, biggest misconceptions about suicide? Awareness and prevention or just in general the term?
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Yeah, sure, Whitney, that's a great question. Because I do think there are a lot of misconceptions out there, and some of that does come from just this general lack of comfort with the idea or having conversations about that. But some of the biggest ones that stand out to me is that it's if somebody's considering suicide, it's unpreventable or it's inevitable. And for most people, that's not the case people are communicating about it. If they're showing that they're in distress, that's usually an indication that there's something we can definitely do about that. And while not every suicide is preventable, most are another thing. This ties back to what we talked about before. Another misconception is that it's only something for the professionals to handle.
And I think the reality is suicide prevention is a community effort. It's something that we all have to be a part of. We all have to be willing to check on the people that we love and that we know and to ask questions if we see somebody who's struggling and to know how to get them connected to resources. I always say I'm not in the dorms, I'm not in the classrooms where people are getting to know each other, where those real conversations happen. And that's where this usually starts. And knowing how to ask those questions, knowing how to be a good listener and knowing how to refer, is really important.
Another thing that ties into that is that talking about suicide is taboo. That's a common misconception. Like, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to put ideas into somebody's head. Reality is that's rarely, if ever, the case. If somebody is considering suicide, having somebody ask them about that is most often a relief rather than some sort of primer for that behavior to happen. Most of the time, that's an indication that somebody sees them and somebody cares about them. That's usually a really good thing. Can be a difficult conversation to have, no doubt, but it usually is a very good thing.
And then the last thing I'd say is a big misconception is oftentimes we hear that, oh, somebody's talking about suicide or doing this just to get attention, just to cause a scene and things like that. And while that sometimes does happen, most of the time that's not the case. And it's important to take any indication of suicide seriously. Anything somebody says, it's always better to err on the side of caution and let the professionals tease out whether or not this. This is a real concern or if this has some other motivation behind it. So those are some of the most common misconceptions we hear.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: You know, I was just thinking about when I was in college, I don't really remember hearing or talking about it. And now, as a staff member and all the initiatives that we have and the conversation, it's like we're talking about it, like, this is real. We're gonna talk about it. And I just feel like. And maybe we still have a long way to go, which I think we probably do. But at the same time, I'm kind of like it's out there and people are okay to talk about it. I mean, it's not this. Oh, you can't say that. You know, it's.
We need to bring this out.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Yeah. And I think as a society in general, we've come a long way. I agree.
We've got further to go. There's still more awareness and more education to happen.
But we are at a place where we're more readily able to talk about it, where we're okay making it visible to talk about it. We're okay to have conversations like this on a radio show, and that's a really good sign. That's a really good step.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: We're coming up on a break pretty soon, but just to kind of segue into, you know, we are in a pandemic.
Everybody is stressed out some level or another just because we were just adjusting to. And I hate saying this new normal, but it kind of is this way of thinking. But I think when we come back after the break, I'd love to get your thoughts about kind of quarantining and this isolation and what, you know, as a student, I know as a staff member, you know, things that I have had to deal with to kind of work through some of those things. So on that note, we will take quick break just to kind of give you guys some stuff to think about.
Stick with us. We got another segment with Dr. Vanderwal. And I once again, just excited about you guys listening to our show. We'll catch you on the other side. You're listening to Whitney Ty with Sheen Whitney.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: The capstone 90.7 fm, wvua.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Hello, friends. You are listening to Fit to be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. But today it's just Whitney. And you know what? I. I'm holding it down. I hope Sheena gets to listen to us, because I feel like I'm holding it down. I miss her, of course, because she's my sidekick or I'm her sidekick. I don't know. But anyway, I'm excited that we're continuing our show with Dr. Vanderwaal. And we've been talking about this is national suicide Prevention Week and not trying to sound like a downer if you just turn on the radio. Now that I've been enlightened a little bit, I don't feel like it's a downer. I feel like it's this vault of knowledge that we're getting. And I actually feel more empowered with our conversation to talk to students. So I kind of left the.
The break talking about kind of this pandemic in quarantine, kind of what individuals are going through with mental health and just maybe having suicidal thoughts during isolation. So have y' all noticed that with quarantining, with the pandemic, has it kind of gone up? I don't know.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: You know, it's a great question, Whitney, and I think we are. So it doesn't feel like we're early into this pandemic, but in terms of data, we're very early into this. There's some indication that there may be more people experiencing suicidal thoughts in the midst of this kind of stress and uncertainty that we're in. Although past crisis that kind of mirror this have indicated that suicide rates haven't been affected overall very much. You know, we are very resilient people overall, and I think that's showing through here as well. Doesn't mean it's not an issue for some. Doesn't mean it's not something we should be looking at and taking seriously. But overall, I think we're doing okay.
But again, increased stress, uncertainty, isolation, those things can increase risk for some people.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: You know, I was. When we first went into quarantining, you know, back in March, I guess, is when everything right after spring break or before spring break, can't remember. It's been so long ago. It's amazing to think we've been going through this that long. You know, at first it was kind of like nobody really thought about what we were going through. It was just kind of shut down. We didn't know the timeline. We still don't really know a timeline of anything. Just kind of do the best we can, right? But I think, you know, for me, and I know even some of our students, of course, it's the engagement with others. And we went from being able to go to people's houses freely, go see a friend, go talk to a friend, to immediately facetiming on our phones, calling people, covering our faces with face masks, not being able to see people's. I'm trying to, like, smile with my eyes. And when people walk a million times, like, hey, how's it going? You know, kind of like smiling at you instead of this, just, you know, no facial expression. And I have to wonder, do you think that that could play a role in some of these thoughts that, you know, students are having?
[00:27:41] Speaker B: I mean, it could have an impact on that. What we do know Is it certainly has an impact on stress and distress for some of our students.
That lack of one on one or in person engagement, social support.
In terms of its impact on suicidal thoughts, I wouldn't say that that one factor would have necessarily a overall impact.
Most of the time, somebody considering suicide, it is a multi factor, multifaceted.
So it may contribute to that for some people, but not in and of itself be an additional risk factor.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: Okay, curious. You know, as a staff member and you know, even a friend, if I'm a student, what are some things we should be on the lookout for, like certain type of verbiage or things where maybe we didn't think of it before but now we're in tune and maybe we're noticing things about a friend, what was something, I mean, I should be aware of?
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Yeah, certainly if anybody's talking any sort of language about death or leaving or suicide, we would take that seriously.
Other risk factors may be depression or withdrawal from social interactions. That can be harder to gauge right now because social interaction looks really different. But if they change their patterns and how they interact with you, that could be a warning sign that they're not doing well. And it might be a good indication that we can check in with somebody and any other big changes in terms of things like substance use or engagement in valued activities like going to class or going to work, that changes. That's something to pay attention to as well.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: I mean, that definitely makes sense because when you were talking about the withdrawal, the first thing I thought about was that's kind of hard to gauge right now because kind of supposed to still do.
We are supposed to distance ourselves and stay in our houses. And even more so now I think that everyone is back on campus. We're trying to be even more careful. So have you had any students say that that's kind of been a hard part?
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Well, I think it is difficult and that's why it's so important, even though we're kind of sick of it. To still connect with people through phone calls, through FaceTime and Zoom check ins, through text, all that stuff is vitally important right now. And I'd encourage people not to get hung up on how sick of it we are, but on how.
But maybe focus more on the blessing that we actually are able to connect in that way right now. Even though we're trying to stay apart physically just for safety in some ways, I think all this technology we have has really been a wonder to have in this day and age trying to manage relationships over copa.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: I mean, I have Felt I was telling, I guess it was one of a client I was working with for Pilates. We were on the machine and I was like, you know, I don't feel like I can do as much in a day as I used to do. I look back at my schedule before all of this, I don't know how I was a sane person, to be honest. Of the amount of meetings and back to back and committees and just thing after thing after thing. And I think for us as professionals, we kind of like, we do that in student life. We are like this, I'm on this, I do this. And I took a step back from my mental state and I was like, you know what? This has been a blessing because although I cannot do the same amount, like mentally the capacity, I don't have the capacity to do that. I value my rest more now so I can thrive in those areas.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's such an excellent point because that's a really important part of coping is trying to find a perspective on this that is positive, that is forward looking, that allows you to dwell on the things that could be shaped as positive versus versus all the things that are negative and that we're missing out on. I think you're absolutely right.
Recognition that we need balance in our lives, we need to prioritize self care and maybe it's taken staring at a zoom screen six hours a day to realize that, but it's a good thing to prioritize that. And that's something I hope that we can all carry forward even after we start to come out of this and go back to our busy lives and our busy schedules that we can still prioritize putting that kind of self care into our daily routine.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: I think this is kind of a blessing in disguise in some ways and we've already kind of talked about that. But I hope that people start to kind of value life and relationships with people more for that emotional well being, spiritual well being, just feeling more connected to something bigger than I got to work all the time, I got to make these grades. Still want you to make your grades. We still want you to be a successful student. But I think for all of us we can find ways to kind of, like you said, find that balance, find a little margin, you know, in our lives. And it's been hard for some of us, but I think we're, we've been doing it for long enough now that I think we're kind of able to find a balance and we're getting there a little bit better.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I hope that's the case. But I do think this is a real opportunity to take a step back and really ask ourselves what is it that we value? What is it that we are working towards? What is it that we want to put our time and energy into? And if we can find ways to do that one day at a time, I think it's going to really help, really help us with all the uncertainty that is surrounding us, all the things that are out of our control, that surround us and help us focus on the things that are in our control. And that's what we can do with our time each day, the choices we make and how we engage our values in our day to day life.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: I think that's great. And we're coming up on a break, but I will get you to stay with me for the last five minutes because we do have some other resources on campus we can definitely share with our listeners.
Like I said, going to take a break. And in the words of Sheena, go grab yourself a drink, wash your hands, change out your face mask. You're listening to Fit to Be tie with Sheena and Whitney on 9.7 capstone.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: The capstone 90.7 fm wvua.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: We are back. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. Today It's Whitney and Dr. Randlewalt. We are taking over the radio on 90.7 the Capstone and we're just thankful for you guys listening to us and you know, thankful that we have all these awesome resources on campus and like I said, we're always willing to share those wonderful things with you. So in light of Suicide Prevention Week, I do want to talk a little bit about some of the initiatives on campus and resources in these last five minutes. So Dr. Vanderwaal, what do we have?
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. So the National Suicide Awareness and Prevention Week is coming up this next week. Here at the university, we tend to do a lot of programming in the first week of October as well. We find that students have gotten into campus a little bit more and are more available to things at that time. So be on the lookout. We're going to have lots of opportunities to engage in trainings and dialogues and other events surrounding suicide awareness and prevention. Coming early October, A couple things I'd love for you all to know about this fall. One, we have an initiative called Tide Against Suicide that is a campus wide initiative that is devoted to raising awareness and building prevention skills in our faculty, staff and students. And we hold events each semester. We have a lot of trainings, we have A qpr which is Question, Persuade and Refer Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training Workshop that we run each semester through our website. You can sign up to attend these and you can get a lot of really good training on those things we talked about before. How to ask questions, how to, how to listen well, how to make a good referral. So that's an excellent resource to take advantage of. We're also getting ready to launch a student group related to tied against suicide. So that's something that students will be able to be more and more involved with in the coming semesters.
On our website we also have a brief 20 to 30 minute training on suicide prevention called Ask, Listen and Refer. This is something you can work through at your own pace and is a really good primer for that training.
Lastly, we've got a workshop series that we're running this fall called Mind Matters and it's covering all sorts of topics related to student mental health and well being. We're talking about how to adjust well, how to build resiliency, how to deal with academic anxiety, how to deal with difficult relationships and setting boundaries, how to deal with sleeping well and how to deal with feeling down and depressed. And those will all be through Zoom. So they're really easily accessible. We've got that list of those workshops on our website as well and you can attend any and all of those for some really good, helpful tips on how to maintain and take care of your mental health and well being.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: That's awesome. And you know, I'm just so.
It's a privilege to work at the university. It's a privilege to work within our division. And when we have our guest on. I'm taking literally the words out of Sheena's mouth because this is like how she always. This is her thing. She's going to listen to it. Be like you did exactly what I said.
We're just so thankful for our resources. We're thankful for people like you and the counseling center. And we have more guests that come on throughout the semester that we're really excited about. But you know, Dr. Vanderwaalt, thank you so much for your time with us and just for being available, being a resource. I'm sure we'll get you back on at some other point within this next semester.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: Well, I would love that. This has been a lot of fun. Whitney, I think you held down the fort more than admirably here.
You're a rock star. This was great. I had a lot of fun.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: I really appreciate it. And you know, a couple of things before we close out. If you guys are looking for some ways to stay active and to do them virtually check out University Recreation Channel. We are doing live classes on there and we do have videos that we are recording for you guys and that also includes yoga videos and I teach yoga myself and yoga is a great way to take a break from the day and to just be present and take some time for yourself to breathe and just give yourself the rest that you need. But check out our YouTube page also check out some of our other resources at the rec center. We are looking to bring some live classes in person classes starting on the 15th and so we'll have everybody socially distanced, face mask required, capacities are lowered in the studio so we just look forward to hopefully seeing you guys pretty soon. But you've been listening to Fit to Be Tied. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your Sunday and we will catch you next week. Have a great day.
